Israel DM: Syrian president is ''very strange leader''

Published November 14th, 2003 - 02:00 GMT

In an interview published Friday by <i>The Washington Times</i>, Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said bases in Lebanon are training some of the f

In an interview published Friday by The Washington Times, Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said bases in Lebanon are training some of the foreign fighters who are moving into Iraq to attack American forces.

Mofaz added that Israel's recent bombing of an Islamic Jihad camp near the Damascus included a jet fighter buzzing near one of President Bashar Assad's palaces. This was meant as a signal to Assad that more punishing attacks would come unless Syria stops sponsoring attacks on Israel from Syria-dominated Lebanon, the Israeli minister was quoted as saying.

"I believe Bashar Assad is a very strange leader," Mofaz said. "He has very strange behavior."

On foreign fighters who are organizing suicide attacks in Iraq, Mofaz said his intelligence shows that some are trained by Hizbullah and other groups in Lebanon. (Albawaba.com)